Sam Adams Summer Ale

Today’s Mistake: Sam Adams Summer Ale. SAM SUMMAH.

5.3% alcohol by volume

12 ounce bottle

Price: $2.59

ABQ: 24.55

I had the immense privilege to attend a college in Boston, and frankly, those were four of the best years of my life. Aside from the city and the people living in it, it’s a perfectly wonderful place. And nothing made me laugh quite like the annual summer deluge of SAM SUMMAH, Boston Beer Company’s take on a, uh, whatever the hell this is. It’s a wheat ale, which is normal enough, and they add “lemon peel,” which, again, is perfectly normal. But “grains of paradise?” That is NOT a working class spice. New Englanders demand gritty, lunch-pail spices like coriander or citrus peels. Coriander is the TAWMMY FACKIN’ BRADY of the beer additive world. Jokes aside, Boston Beer Company is perfectly capable of making a decent beer, but SAM SUMMAH ain’t among them. It’s downright shitty. The only saving grace is the (relatively) high ABV.

Color

She’s a pretty beer: light orange, slightly hazy.

Taste

Look, it’s not disgusting, but it’s also not something you should order in a bar. Perhaps it’s because I was assaulted by SAM SUMMAH for four straight years, but I cannot take it seriously. The spicing is weird. Whatever that means.

Mouthfeel

Feels nice for a summer beer: springy and crisp.

Packaging

That Sam Adams character is tired, Time to shoot him behind the tool shed.

Price

I’m no longer in Boston so I can’t get the junk cheap. I wouldn’t buy it.

Final Verdict

You could do worse for a SUMMAH ale. 2 out of a possible 5.